To complete a Truist Bank beneficiary form, you visit a Truist branch in person with your ID and your beneficiary’s identifying details, and a banker enters the information on a signature card that you review and sign. Truist does not currently allow you to add or update a Payable on Death (POD) beneficiary through online banking or the mobile app. The designation takes effect once the signature card is signed and saved to your account record.
What to Bring to the Branch
Arriving prepared is the difference between finishing the designation in one visit and coming back a second time. Bring a valid government-issued photo ID for yourself, and gather the following for each person you plan to name:
- Full legal name as it appears on the beneficiary’s government-issued ID. Nicknames or shortened versions can create problems when the beneficiary later tries to claim the funds.
- Social Security number, which is required for tax reporting and for the FDIC’s depositor identification records.1American Bankers Association. Bank Identification Requirements for Payable-on-Death Beneficiaries
- Date of birth, which serves as a secondary identifier alongside the SSN.
- Current residential address, used to contact the beneficiary or report the account to the correct state if funds later go unclaimed.
- Relationship to you (spouse, child, sibling, or other). This helps the bank flag situations where spousal consent rules might apply.
If You Are Naming a Trust
The information is different when the beneficiary is a trust rather than a person. Bring the full legal name of the trust exactly as it appears in the trust document, the date the trust was established, and the trust’s Employer Identification Number (EIN). The bank may also ask to see a trust certification or the first and last pages of the trust agreement to verify that the trust exists and is currently active.
Filling Out the Signature Card at the Branch
At the branch, a banker will pull up your account and provide the signature card where beneficiary details are entered. You supply each beneficiary’s information from the list above. If you are naming more than one person, you assign percentage allocations for how the balance should be divided. The percentages must total 100.
Review each entry carefully before signing. A misspelled name or transposed Social Security number can complicate the claim your beneficiary makes later. Once you review and sign the updated signature card, the designation is active in the bank’s system. Ask the banker for a printed confirmation before you leave. Going forward, your statements typically note that a beneficiary is on file, though specific names are truncated for privacy, so check that the notation appears on your next statement as a second confirmation the change went through.
Assigning Shares and Adding Backups
You can name more than one primary beneficiary on the same account. If you name four beneficiaries at equal shares, each receives 25 percent of the funds after your death. Unequal splits work too. You could assign 60 percent to one person and 20 percent each to two others, as long as the total reaches 100 percent.
A contingent beneficiary is a backup. The primary beneficiary is first in line, and the contingent inherits only if the primary has already died at the time of your passing. Without a contingent named, you risk the account reverting to your estate and going through probate if your primary beneficiary predeceases you. Tell the banker if you want a contingent added; it is a separate line on the signature card.
Per Stirpes vs. Per Capita
You may have the option to select “per stirpes” or “per capita” as the distribution method. The difference matters when a beneficiary dies before you do. Under per stirpes (Latin for “by branch”), if one of your beneficiaries dies first, that person’s share passes down to their own children. Under per capita, the deceased beneficiary’s share is split among the surviving beneficiaries instead, and the deceased person’s children get nothing from your account.
A concrete example: you name your two children as equal beneficiaries. One child dies before you. With per stirpes, the deceased child’s 50 percent goes to your grandchildren. With per capita, the surviving child receives 100 percent and the grandchildren are cut out. Per capita is the default on most accounts if you do not specify, so if you want the per stirpes result, you need to say so explicitly on the signature card.
Which Truist Accounts Accept a Designation
Most Truist consumer deposit accounts allow POD beneficiary designations. Personal checking and savings accounts are the most common. Certificates of deposit also permit designations, so the principal and any accrued interest transfer to your beneficiary at your death regardless of whether the CD has matured.
Truist brokerage accounts use Transfer on Death (TOD) designations instead of POD. The mechanics are similar, and assets pass outside probate to the named beneficiary, but TOD is the term used for securities and investment holdings rather than cash deposits.2Children’s Wisconsin. Bank or Brokerage Accounts
Individual Retirement Accounts are a separate category with their own rules. Because IRAs are governed by federal tax rules, the beneficiary’s options for receiving the money depend on factors like their relationship to you and whether you had already started taking required minimum distributions. A non-spouse beneficiary inheriting a traditional IRA generally must withdraw the entire balance within ten years of the account owner’s death, and if the original owner died after reaching the required beginning date for distributions, the beneficiary must also take annual minimum withdrawals during that ten-year window.3Internal Revenue Service. Required Minimum Distributions for IRA Beneficiaries Missing a required withdrawal can trigger a penalty of up to 25 percent of the amount that should have been taken, and withdrawals from a traditional IRA are taxed as ordinary income.4Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Beneficiary
Changing or Removing a Beneficiary Later
You can change or remove a beneficiary at any time by repeating the same branch visit. No one else’s consent is required. The beneficiary has no legal claim to the account while you are alive and does not need to be notified of the designation or any changes to it.5The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. Pitfalls of Pay on Death Accounts Bring the same information you brought the first time: your ID, and the full identifying details for anyone you are adding.
Life events are the natural triggers to revisit the form. Marriages, divorces, births, deaths, and estrangements all change who you want on the card. Whatever prompts the update, the process is the same short branch visit.
How Your Beneficiary Claims the Funds
A beneficiary has no access to or claim on account funds while the account holder is alive. The legal relationship changes at the moment of the holder’s death. Under the Truist Bank Services Agreement, the bank pays funds to the named beneficiary upon presentation of proof that the account holder has died and that the beneficiary survived all account owners.6Truist Bank. Truist Bank Services Agreement
Your beneficiary should bring the following to a Truist branch when the time comes:
- A certified copy of the death certificate. Most states charge between $15 and $20 per certified copy from the vital records office, and multiple copies are usually needed for other institutions.
- A valid government-issued photo ID. The name must match the beneficiary designation on file.
- Any final distribution or claim form the branch provides to settle remaining interest or fees before releasing the balance.
The bank does not proactively search for or notify beneficiaries after an account holder’s death. The burden falls entirely on the beneficiary to learn about the account, go to a Truist branch, and present the documents.5The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. Pitfalls of Pay on Death Accounts Telling the people you name that the designation exists, and ideally which branch or account it is tied to, matters as much as creating the designation itself.
Why the Signature Card Overrides Your Will
A POD designation on file at Truist overrides whatever your will says about the same account. If your will leaves everything to your sister but your POD form names your brother, your brother receives the account balance. The will is irrelevant for that asset. This is one of the most common estate planning mistakes: people update their will and forget to update their beneficiary designations, or assume the will controls everything.5The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. Pitfalls of Pay on Death Accounts
Because the transfer happens by operation of law the moment the account holder dies, the funds never become part of the probate estate. The executor of your will has no authority over a properly designated POD account. Keep the signature card current, and treat any change to your will as a prompt to check that your beneficiary forms still match your intent.